Comedian Gilbert Gottfried aims to offend and entertain

Among filthy comics, Gilbert Gottfried enjoys a reputation as one of the filthiest.

The guy with the scrunched-up face and the irritating, nasal Brooklyn accent even managed to gross out a room full of comedians, as seen in the documentary film "The Aristocrats."

That movie cemented his reputation as a man whose humor knows no bounds. His ability to offend has endeared him to shock-jock Howard Stern, who frequently invites Gottfried to guest on his show.

And yet, Gottfried has a kinder, gentler side. He voiced a cartoon parrot character in Disney's "Aladdin." He does the talking for Digit, a mechanical bird on the PBS cartoon "Cyberchase." Finally, Gottfried is heard in millions of American homes daily when he squawks in the character of the familiar duck in Aflac television ads.

Why is the sound of his voice so associated with the feather-and-beak set?

"I guess it just doesn't sound that human," said Gottfried, who's set to perform at Cozzy's Comedy Club in Newport News Friday, Jan. 7 and Saturday, Jan. 8. "I don't know. It started with the parrot and it took off from there. One day, I'll have to stretch my talent and be a goat or something."

He takes his acting seriously. "To play the duck, I work like DeNiro. I lived with a family of ducks …. I just want to do it long enough so I could be like the Pillsbury Doughboy or one of those guys."

Speaking to Gottfried on the phone from his home in New York, you find him somewhere between the intentionally abrasive comic and the goofy cartoon mouthpiece. He's full of self-deprecating humor. He sounds relaxed. His speaking voice is several octaves lower than the whine that emanates from him on stage or screen.

One thing becomes clear quickly. Gottfried sees himself as a journeyman entertainer, one who's eager to take whatever paying gig's available.

"Some towns that I go into, it seems like one of those shows on cable about the survivalists who are left out in the wilderness, people languishing in forest or the middle of the ocean," he said. Has he been to Newport News before? "I haven't," he said. "I guess they have electric lights there."

Gottfried is willing to play small towns, take bit parts in low-budget movies, do voice-over work. He'll set aside his pride and take whatever money's on the table.

Consider his ad for something called the ShoeDini, for example. Gottfried's enthusiastic adenoidal pitch, as heard in an online advertisement, isn't a joke. He's really trying to sell the product, a shoe horn with a telescoping handle that lets people put on their shoes from a standing position.

"Like they say in the ad, 'Taking your shoes on and off is a back-breaking chore,'" he said, making fun of the product he was paid to promote. "This is some magical device where you never have to bend over to take your shoes on and off."

He's not sure why the company choose him as spokesman.

"Maybe everyone else was too ashamed," Gottfried said, chuckling. "Maybe they asked the guy who played Screech in 'Saved by the Bell' and he said, 'I've got my standards.' "

Gottfried's low standards have become his claim to fame.

In "The Aristocrats" film, he is seen participating in a 2001 Friars Club roast of Playboy founder Hugh Hefner. With the tragedy of Sept. 11 still fresh in people's minds, Gottfried dared to tell jokes about it.

"The whole country, particularly New York, was in a daze and everybody was just sort of stunned," Gottfried recalled. "I went up and I really wanted to be the first one to be truly offensive. I started off fairly mildly. I said, 'Tonight, I'm going to be using my Muslin name, Hazint Bin Laid.' Then I did a joke, 'I have to leave early tonight, I'm flying to L.A. I couldn't get a direct flight. I had to make a stop at the Empire State Building.' That one got the loudest groans and gasps. Somebody yelled 'Too soon!' Which I took to mean I didn't take a long enough pause between the setup and the punch line."

As he sensed the audience turning on him, he launched into the joke known as "The Aristocrats," one legendary among comedians for its over-the-top filth.

"I got more and more into it and got more and more disgusting and perverted with it," he said. "The place just exploded. They were cheering."

Gottfried said he hadn't planned on telling the joke. He reacted instinctively. It turned out to be an important moment in "The Aristocrats" movie, one that revealed to many Gottfried's status as the comedian's comedian.

"No, it wasn't planned," he said. "I'll have to thank those terrorists, indirectly."